Fought For You
by Reedus-GirlE
Summary: Beth has returned from Grady only to find Daryl and Carol have become closer than ever before. Jealousy, hurt and angst in this Bethyl Fanfic with Caryl feels. *My First FanFic and One Shot turned into a Multi Chapter - Regular updates*
1. Chapter 1 - Beth

***Beth***

I knew it; I knew it wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me. There was an ever-growing closeness between them, and as much as I had tried to deny it, the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me my intuition was right. I may not have known Carol all that well, but I did know Daryl Dixon, and it hadn't escaped my attention the way he had been looking at her. I had seen the way his deep blue eyes drank in every word she said, the way he seemed to always gravitate towards her and how his body would relax every time she was near him, almost as if she offered him some sort of comfort, just by being there next to him. I knew it wasn't in my head, I had felt it from the first moment I had seen them again. They were closer now, closer than ever before. The spark of friendship had become a flame whilst I had been gone, and just the very thought of that broke my heart in two.

The kitchen was busy with Rick, Michonne, Judith and Carl all enjoying a family breakfast, whilst I sat quietly at the adjoining table in the house we had commandeered for the winter. Today was my first time of being out of bed after being injured during my escape from Grady. Maggie, who had nursed me back to health, had put me on strict bed rest whilst my cuts, bruises and stitches all healed. But after eight long days of staring at the same four walls, I was going stir crazy. It had reminded me too much of the time I had spent in my room in the farmhouse after I had cut my wrists, and that wasn't a time I liked to dwell on for to long if I could help it.

Most importantly though, I wanted to see Daryl; needed to see him just to feel that sense of familiarity that had been lost the night I was taken to Grady. So I had pleaded my case, begged in fact, and thankfully Maggie had agreed to at least let me eat in the kitchen with everyone else, as long as I promised to rest up for the remainder of the day. For me, if it meant I got to see Daryl, speak to him even just for a moment, it was worth agreeing to.

Daryl and Carol had been sharing a private joke as they walked into the kitchen, a playful smile pulling on her lips whilst he had his crossbow in one hand and his other arm loosely draped over Carols shoulder. The closeness of their bodies and the ease with which they spoke to each other made my heart sink and I immediately regretted having left the safety of my bed. After all, the heart can only deny what the eyes don't see. And sat there in the kitchen watching them exchange knowing looks and hushed words, meant I no longer had the luxury of pretending not to see what had been right before me all along. Daryl Dixon loved her.

At first they had been so engrossed in conversation that they had been oblivious to anyone else in the room, and the longer his eyes stayed on her the more my stomach twisted into a knot, only unraveling when he finally looked over the room acknowledging everyone in turn until his eyes finally fell to me. I greeted him with a small smile, a genuine but feeble attempt to hide the turmoil I felt inside at seeing the person I had fallen in love with, grow so close to someone else because I had been so cruelly taken away.

The whole time I had been in Grady the only thing that had kept me alive were my memories of Daryl, and the thought of him out there somewhere looking for me, just like he had done with Sophia. I had fought to survive every single day at that hospital, and it had been brutal and it had been bloody. But I stayed strong, did it because I needed to know that when he found me, he would be proud of me. Proud of the fact I had never stopped fighting and never once given up the hope that we would somehow find each other again. I wanted for him to know that I wasn't just another dead girl, and that our ending would not be how it had been with Sophia.

Right now though, as I saw him briefly nod his head at me and turn back to Carol, his eyes showing none of the emotion I had seen when we were alone in the funeral home, I started to doubt myself and the hope I had held onto for so long. Instead of being relieved to be back alongside him again, all I felt was sadness and loss.

Carol finished plating up his breakfast alongside her own, and together they moved and sat at the bench to eat with quiet words and soft smiles being exchanged between them, whilst I sat at the table alone. I wasn't even a passing thought for Daryl Dixon, the man who was slowly breaking my heart.

I looked down at my breakfast, trying to compose myself as my stomach churned, and I tried with all of my might to block out the soft gravelly cadence of his voice and her light laughter as they talked amongst themselves. Daryl seemingly oblivious to the pain he had caused me ever since he had carried me in his arms out of that hospital.

The first few days after Grady were hazy, my broken and weary body finally succumbing to my injuries left me slipping in and out of consciousness, and as my mind struggled to fight the darkness and voices swirled around in my head all I saw were glimpses of his face. His deep blue eyes piercing through the haze of my unconsciousness, calling me back home. Maggie had told me I had been out of it for three whole days, barely holding onto life, but as I finally became more coherent I realized there was really only one person I wanted to see, wanted to talk to and that was Daryl. I wanted to look into those eyes of his and tell him that it was him, and him alone that had brought me back.

At first he had visited each day, his time spent always brief and only when accompanied by Carol or one of the others. Then slowly as the days passed he stopped visiting altogether, leaving me with nothing but my memories and thoughts of what I had done to make him abandon me, after I had fought so hard to come back to him.

All of a sudden the sadness consumed me. The overwhelming loss I felt at being kept away from him for so long, only to be reunited and still feel like I was a million miles away, became just too much for my fragile heart to bear. And before I realised it had even happened, I let out a desperate sob, tears splashing from my eyelashes hitting the table below. Aware that everyone had now turned to look at me I lifted my head and although all eyes were on me, it was his eyes and his eyes alone that captured mine completely. Steely blue but full of confusion he held my stare until I saw Carol reach out and gently touch his arm, an act of familiarity that he had once shared with me. In that moment my resolve gave way to the reality I had felt creeping up on me over the last week, the realisation that nothing would ever be the same again. I had been foolishly clinging on to a fantasy, and would forever be haunted by an unrequited love, because I had fallen for a man who would never feel for me, as I did for him.

As I ran from the room, only the sound of his voice calling my name could be heard over the pounding in my chest, the sound of my heart breaking into tiny pieces.

***Authors Note***

**A 'Daryl' chapter is coming up next **

**This is my very first time writing fan fiction, so please feel welcome to leave any feedback you may have.**

**Fought For You, started out as a 'one shot' but has since become a multi chapter.**

**Thank you once again for all of your support and kind words so far. It truly is appreciated. Xx**


	2. Chapter 2 - Daryl

***Daryl***

Things had been a lot different when we got Beth out of Grady. It weren't like I thought it would be like at all. After weeks of searching and tracking her down I thought finding her and bringing her back to us, back to her family would bring me some kind of peace. Thought it might somehow allow my guilty conscience to ease or free me from the endless torment I felt, not just since losing Beth, but also since losing Sophia.

Rick said that Sophia going missing was because of him, but it didn't take no genius to work out that if he hadn't have gone after that little girl on that highway and killed them two walkers, she would have been dead before she even hit the creek and probably right in front of her moms eyes too. Rick had gotten that girl to safety, but getting her outta them woods, bringing her back to us, that was on me. I knew them woods like the back of my hand, knew every inch of them trails too, had been huntin' in them for years me and Merle. So there was no reason for me not to bring that girl back. But I failed, and that day on Hershel's farm, watching Sophia come out of that barn with all them walkers, hearing Carol's screams and feeling her collapse in my arms, and every tear she had cried over her daughter since. That was on me too.

This time was different though, I had found the girl, we had saved Beth and brought her home and that should have accounted for something right?

But it hadn't played out like that. In fact, as I had carried Beth's limp broken body in my arms out of Grady Memorial that day, it hadn't felt the same as seeing Sophia at the barn, but it didn't feel no different neither. The guilt still coursed through my veins and the regret was so deep seated that it had filled my thoughts every day since, and my dreams each time I put my head to the pillow at night. My dreams always led me back to that night at the funeral home, that night just sat there with Beth, food in our bellies, a roof over our heads and that smile of hers that could damn near light up a room. It seemed like we were the last two people on this god-forsaken earth and although we had both lost too damn much, just for a split second it seemed like something had come good for once.

I figured that night haunted me more than any other because it was one of the first times in my 'piece of shit' life I had dropped my guard, been dumb enough to believe that there was anything decent left in this world, and that a piece had been carved out for me and this girl. It had felt so close, like I could almost reach out my hand and pull it right in. But my life ain't never been like that and I was a fool to think, even for a beat that it could be. Happiness ain't out there for people like me. That shit is reserved for good people, people with good graces who are brought up to act right and who ain't never had to do a bad thing in their damn lives. Happiness was reserved for people like Beth, because she only saw the good in the world, not like me I knew the place had gone to shit a long time before any damn walkers showed up. But the longer I had spent with her, the more that line had blurred and I got a glimpse of something different, hope maybe? I dunno. It was only ever gonna be short lived tho'. Not cus of her or anything she had done, and not cus that smile of hers couldn't have convinced me that there was still good to be found in people. It was short lived because I had sent her out of the safety of the world we had found, and pushed her straight into the arms of danger.

The night she had gone, I had run after her until every bone and muscle in my body was torn apart, destroyed. And if the truth be told I had never stopped chasing her down since. I was always looking for a sign that would allow me to find her, allow me to finally stop running and breathe again. That night in the funeral home, Beth Greene had somehow become the air in my lungs.

But as I carried her outta that hospital, saw her bloodied knuckles, felt her beat up body, listless and broken against mine, there was no sigh of relief at having found her. Instead all I felt was a tightening in my chest, a deep anger that what had happened to her, may have been worse than death for someone who was so unspoiled and innocent. And just like the night she had gone missing, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath.

In the days that followed her being brought back to the house, I waited in her room, stayed as Maggie and the others all held vigil at her bedside, and watched as she fell in and out of consciousness. Each time she would awaken her eyes would try to focus, almost as if she was seeking something out and each time her eyes would settle on me she would fade away again. Leaving me with only the memory of how the light had gone from them perfect blue eyes of hers, and the knowledge that she had lost all of her hope because of my actions.

Carol had called me a coward for staying away from Beth when she woke up. I weren't surprised though, that was Carols way. Always meddling in my business, trying to get in my thoughts and be some sort of voice of reason. She had done the same at Hershel's over Randle, even tried to guide me right with my own brother, and had it been anyone else, I would have told them to back the hell off.

Me and Carol tho, we got some history and whether I like it or not she knows what's going on in my head. She knows the guilt I fight with each day, understands it too, without me havin' to say a single word. Maybe it's because she fights the same demons, battles with regret over things she has done and choices she has made. Either way, she knew when I said I didn't want to talk about Beth, not to push the matter any further. And because of that, I spent most of my time with her, going on runs, securing the fences around the house and doing a couple overnight hunts. I stayed busy, stayed focused on my tasks and tried to put Beth outta my head. But it had been a damn waste of effort, because she had filled my thoughts every day, just like she had when she was taken away. Always in the front of my mind, like a light refusing to be dimmed.

Today had been a shock seeing her, I at least expected her to be bed bound for a couple more days, given how banged up she had been. So it had put me on a back foot walking in and seeing her sat there alone, away from everyone else in the kitchen. She looked tired out and fragile and it pulled on my chest that I couldn't just go over and carry her back to her bed so she could rest up some more. But given my track record for doing the best thing by her, I was the last person in a position to do that. So I did what I thought was right, I stayed away.

My eyes had met hers once or twice, just quickly; just long enough for me to see there was nothing there no more. Grady had taken her light, me letting her get captured that night had broken her.

I started in at the breakfast Carol had made, keeping my eyes down trying focus on what Carol was saying whilst my mind played over and over that night in the moonshiners shack. Beth had said, ''you are gonna miss me so bad when I am gone Daryl Dixon." The truth was I did. I missed that girl every damn day she was away. But now she was here back with us, it was like I still missed her, missed her smile, the way she talked, missed the way the sun always seemed to shine on her, for her.

The only thing I couldn't miss was the truth, and that was that I had brought Beth back to us, but the girl we knew, that sweet, naive girl who had brought me hope when I thought the world was damned, she had gone and weren't ever coming home.

I could feel the anger start to pulse through my veins at the things that must have happened to her to take away that innocence, and even though I could hear Carols voice in the back trying to offer some comfort, trying to calm me down, my mind was spinning. It was only when I had heard a cry from Beth and watched her as she ran from the room, did the anger subside and like instinct pulling through me I stood from the table and took off after her, calling her name.

As I reached the door of her room and turned the handle, I suddenly realised, coward or not, it was time for me to face Beth, time to try and put right all my wrongs.

After all, this was all on me.

***Authors Note***

**A 'Beth' chapter is coming up next **


	3. Chapter 3 - Beth

***Beth***

I had asked myself the same question a million times, played it out in my head over and over, yet still the answer eluded me. You see the truth was, no matter how many times I had played different memories over in my mind, I still couldn't remember the exact moment I had fallen in love with Daryl Dixon. All I knew was that one day he was just the surly redneck who had helped my daddy and Rick run the prison, and the next he was all that I thought about, the person my heart ached for.

Daryl becoming the most important thing in my world happened so suddenly, and with no warning at all. It had personified everything about him, as it had been like a hunter whose prey had never seen him coming.

As he stepped quietly into my room, his head almost bowed and his eyes seemingly full of regret, it reminded me of that night on the moonshiner's porch. It had been just the two of us and I had listened to him talk about his life before us, before the farmhouse and before the family we had become at the prison.

My heart had been filled with sadness as he spoke about how life had been for him growing up, how there hadn't been anybody there for him, to care for him and love him. Instead his childhood had been a constant struggle, filled with violence and a need to get through one day at a time. Unlike me, he had been alone in the world without love for so long, that he neither recognised it or longed for it anymore.

I remembered how desperately I wanted to take all that pain away from him. How I wanted him to know that life could be good, that people could be kind and gentle and that he didn't always have to fight. And I wanted to be the one to prove it to him.

He had said that he was nothing, a no-one, but in that very moment as I sat looking at this man who had risked his life a million times over, not just to save me but everyone I knew, it couldn't have been further than the truth. He may of felt like nothing, but right there on that porch, he had become everything to me. He was all I had in the world, and that didn't scare me at all, because I knew he was a good man, a brave man who deserved to be loved, I just needed him to see it too.

I wasn't as strong as him, I knew that. I couldn't fight, could barely protect myself and knew I wouldn't survive on my own, but I had Daryl Dixon, the last man standing, and that was enough for me. I also knew I had nothing of any worth in this world to offer him in return, other than the only two things I had managed to hold onto through all of the anguish, a little bit hope and my naive heart. And so it could be said, that sat there alone with him in the dark, with only honesty between us, was the moment I had fallen in love with him, fallen in love for the very first time in my life.

There was a part of me I guess, which thought he had felt it too. At the funeral home, I hoped that he had seen in me what I saw in him, a future that could be good in a world that had gone bad. Staying in one place, putting down roots and knowing it might just be me and him, I thought he had seen a glimmer of hope in us, and that was all I had wanted. I felt like it was all we would need to help us heal, after everything we had lost.

I had been wrong, and this morning seeing him with Carol, I felt like a fool, humiliated by my own naivety. I had given him my heart and he had discarded it, broken it in two and there was no way to put it back together, I couldn't even take it back. And now stood in front of him in my bedroom I felt the tears of my humiliation start to rise again, and it made the anger in my tone bite out.

"What do you want Daryl, why are you in here?"

He was tentative as he moved slowly toward me; his gravelly tone carried in it a sense of questioning.

"I saw you cryin' down in the kitchen, just wanted to see if you were ok?"

His concern for me just served to upset me further, and I could feel the tears about to fall. I moved to my bed to pick up a small cloth to wipe my eyes, letting out a hiss as I caught the scar on my face with the rough material.

"I am fine Daryl, its nothing."

"Mhmm you don't seem fine". He moved closer, his eyes examining my face "My guess is, you ain't crying over nothing."

There was softness in his voice as he raised his hand in a gesture to touch my tear stained cheek before he realised what he had done, and pulled away.

"It's fine Daryl, just go ok. Go back to Carol"

I knew I sounded like a petulant child as I spat her name out of my mouth unintentionally. Words laced with malice that were immediately followed by my deep regret at lashing out at the person I cared most for. Daryl turned around to leave and my breathe caught in my throat, knowing that it had been my coldness that had forced him to walk away. But instead he shut my bedroom door over and walked back towards me, closing the gap slightly between us, a look of confusion on his face.

"Beth am I missing something here?" His voice clipped and held within it a sense of annoyance, but his eyes were searching and I shifted slightly under their scrutiny. "Are you pissed cus I was talking to Carol?"

Although he seemed close to the truth, it also felt like he was a million miles away from it. I wasn't pissed, not at all. I was hurt, deeply hurt, in ways I couldn't even find the words to describe, as it was so encompassed in feeling totally rejected and discarded. I wasn't pissed at him for not loving me, I wasn't even angry at Carol for being the one he had chosen, deep down in my stomach I was just angry at myself. Angry for wanting him and angry for believing I had something to fight for.

"Why did you get me out of Grady Daryl? Why did you even bother looking for me and bringing me back here?"

There was a change in his demeanor, the questioning lilt of his voice gone as he rocked in his boots, taken aback by my question. "I brought you back to your family, to Maggie, Glenn, Carl, Judith all of the people you wanted us to go find remember. I got you back safe where you belong, to the people who actually give a shit. Not a bunch of psychos in some nut job hospital."

And right there as I stood and stared into his eyes I had my answer, he hadn't come looking for me because it was what he wanted, he had done what he always did, looked for someone out of a sense of loyalty and obligation to the group, nothing more. His drive to get me back had been no more than a sense of duty; I truly had meant nothing to him at all.

"Well maybe you should have just left me there, at least then you wouldn't have to avoid me, wouldn't need to ignore me and pretend like I don't exist. You at least wouldn't need to convince anyone that you actually give a damn. After all I am just another dumb girl like Sophia who had gone and got herself lost and needed saving right?"

He moved towards me, pointing his finger toward my face as anger flashed in his eyes, "Don't, that weren't remotely the same." He took a short breath, his jaw set and his piercing gaze fixed on mine as I saw his anger and frustration rising to the surface. "What do you want from me girl, tell me? You want me to pretend like nothing happened, like you weren't taken and it's business as usual huh, that what you want from me?"

My voice was raised, meeting his anger head on. "I want you to remember Daryl, I want you to remember, so I don't feel like the only one who thinks what we went through before all this meant something. I don't want it to be like you don't give a crap and the fact I was taken away means absolutely nothing to you, like I meant nothing to you."

He moved in closer, almost like a predator in striking distance of its prey, poised to attack and bring it down "that's what you think huh." His tone not softening at all, instead it offered a challenge, a dare for me to stand true to my statement.

My mind flashed back to that morning, seeing him with Carol, no emotion in his eyes when he glanced at me. My voice broke, partly from the hurt, but mostly from defiance at knowing my eyes hadn't deceived me, I knew my words were true.

"Its what I know"

The words hung in the air as his eyes focused on mine and he brought his face within inches of mine "You know nothing."

Stepping back from under his glare, my heart was racing, my tone clipped and hurried. "I see how you look at Carol, how you care for her different. How you respect her cus she's strong, cus she fights, and she's is brave and don't need you to look out for her. And I know you saw me like some dumb bitch who needed protecting, bet you weren't even surprised I got taken."

My eyes fell to the floor and my tone lost its sting as the truth of my words hit somewhere deep inside of me. "You probably even expected it. But you don't get to bring me back here and just dismiss me Daryl. You don't get to walk away like I ain't worth anything, like I'm nothin', just because I made a dumb mistake that night and cus I weren't strong enough then to fight for myself, you don't get to do that to me. I paid my price."

Daryl stepped in closer to me, his finger and thumb lifting my chin and tilting my head back up, his eyes never faltering from mine. I felt my back hit the wall behind me leaving me pinned with no where to turn, as anger still laced through his words.

"I never walked away from nothin', you hear me. I'll tell you what I remember shall I? I remember how beat up and broken your body was when I carried you back in here, I remember you cryin' out in pain as Maggie washed over your cuts and bruises. I remember hearing you through that wall there, callin' out my name in your sleep, just like you did the night you were taken. You think I ain't punished, you think I got off scot free. I can't un-see the cuts on your face, un-see the blood on your knuckles. You think it don't play in my head what those motherfuckers did to you for you to get those bruises on your body."

He put his forefinger to his temple. "You think I don't see that shit in my head each time I close my eyes? You were taken away from me that night, and all you wanna talk about is me and Carol, like it's about who I am gonna take to some damn high school prom."

His words stung. His mocking of me and his dismissal of everything that had happened before Grady, everything good and reducing me to little more than a bad memory, pricked at my frustration.

"Screw you Daryl, you don't get it"

Daryl's voice was still raised, but the edge had gone. The anger was slowly burning away from his body like he had confessed all of his sins, purged and there was no fight left in him.

"No Beth you don't get it, we nearly lost you cus of me, Maggie, Glenn, Rick, everyone knows what happened to you was cus of me, cus I let my guard down. Maggie lost her sister, Carl, Carol, never thought they were gonna see you again. We all lost you cus of me; you understand that? What happened to you, it's on me."

The shame was etched on his face, and I finally realised the truth. This wasn't about the group after all, this was about what had happened while I was gone. He saw what had happened to me as something bad, a burden he would always carry, and that cut me to the bone. He didn't see that I had fought so hard to get back to him, hadn't seen that I was still stood in front of him. Instead he just saw me as a reminder of everything bad he felt about himself. I was no different in his eyes to the pain and shame of his childhood. I was exactly the same as all the bad things that had happened to him throughout his life, and the thought of that angered me to my core.

I pushed him away from me, my voice raised, anger and venom racing through it. "No! No Daryl, you don't get to do that; you don't get to make me a victim. Write me off as some innocent bystander and make me a burden on your conscience, you don't get that right. I'm not weak Daryl, I was weaker before, but I ain't weak now."

The rage was coursing through my body, everything I felt rising and taking a hold of the words that spilled in haste from my lips. "My face is scarred because I refused to give up, my knuckles are cut up because I made a choice to fight, stand up for myself, just like you and my family had taught me. And this body." I pulled at the loose t-shirt that had been covering me. "This body that clearly disgusts you so much. This body is bruised cus I chose to survive; I did survive Daryl. You talk like what happened to me made me weak, it didn't, it made me strong. And not you or anyone else can tell me any different."

Daryl's eyes had been trained on me the whole time I had spoken, unflinching, and although they held some apology, it was just too late. The damage was done. His words had sealed our fate, and as I walked over to my bedroom door and held it open for him to leave. I said the words that rang true through my heart.

"Daryl, the night at the funeral home, being taken from you that isn't what broke me. Everything I endured whilst I was away that didn't break me either. I fought because I wanted to come back to you, but coming back here and finding that you had let go of everything that was good and hopeful between us, that is what has destroyed me."

As he walked through the door away from me, I closed it behind him, and fell to the floor, letting the remainder of my heart shatter around me.

***Authors Note***

**A 'Carol' chapter is coming up next.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Carol

***Carol***

Daryl reminded me a lot of a pendulum, always swinging between just two extremes. It was either all consuming rage or overwhelming guilt. He barely ever had a moment's peace in his head where he was able to just stop and experience anything else in between. It's not that he's an angry or even a mean spirited man, I have known a few of them in my time and Daryl Dixon definitely didn't fit that mold. In fact, if you took the time to see past the brash exterior of his Redneck roots, what you would find is a very kind, good hearted, introspective soul, who has always tried his hardest to live by a decent moral code. However he was also a man who had been cursed by a life of neglect, brutality and the burden of constantly being put down by those around him. And as you would expect, years of that kind of turmoil had taken its toll. After all, live your life in the dark for long enough you soon forget what it's like to see the sun, and I understood that better than anyone.

For Daryl it had been his father, a drunkard who lived his life with little concern for his family and although I doubt he even knew it, Merle had played his part in that neglect too, seemed he was one apple that hadn't fallen far from the tree. For me though, it had been Ed, Sophia's father and the man I had been married to since I was a teenager. Ed over the years had slowly and painfully stripped away my self worth and taken away my belief that I deserved anything good in this world. So just like Daryl, I too had been condemned to a life of misery by the one that should have loved me the most. And I think the reason why he and I gravitated towards each other, was because we both wore the scars to prove it.

Despite our history though, we had fought back, sometimes together but mostly apart, taking on our demons in our own way. And in that, we managed to find some small comfort, and in each other we found a sense of hope. Hope that despite how broken we had once been by those around us, it wasn't entirely impossible to trust again.

I had seen moments of it at the prison, watched as Daryl had gone from being likened to a feral animal who functioned entirely on his own, to an integral part of a family with Rick, Hershel and Glenn by his side. He had seemed less burdened, ironic really because he had so much responsibility back then, looking out for all of us whilst Rick had dealt with his own grief. Yet Daryl without question had stepped up, become a leader and he had thrived on it. On the odd occasion I was lucky enough to see him smile, hear his gruff laughter or get a slight head nod, or even a wink of self-satisfaction when he saw everyone else around him safe and secure.

Those were my favourite moments because that was when his boyish charm shone through the rugged darkness of the man, and I relished it. I loved the fact he had refused to become the person he had seemed almost destined to be. He was no Merle and he was definitely no Ed. And for each day I was proud of him, I was also grateful for him.

A lot of people would probably say that for them the zombie apocalypse was the greatest loss of their lives, but for Daryl I believe it was actually the fall of the prison. For the first time in his life he'd had a family. Losing it all to 'The Governor' like that, had almost destroyed him and left him broken once again. I had felt it the moment he had clung to me like a lost little boy in the woods at Terminus and I had seen it in his eyes ever since, the darkness that lingered there, creeping in like the black clouds you see before a thunderstorm hits.

Following the events that had taken place at Terminus, there hadn't really been time to sit and take stock of what had happened to us after the prison. We had been pulled apart and plunged into such desperate situations that it seemed easier, less painful to try and just put the memories of that time behind us. I hadn't spoken about Lizzie and Mika, and Daryl hadn't really spoken about Beth. Between us we had just silently accepted that what had happened had changed us irrevocably, and that all we could do was look forward. Because dwelling on the past would just burn us to the ground. However, this morning as I had sat and watched Daryl chase after Beth, heard their raised voices echoing throughout the house and watched him head out into the woods alone. His crossbow slung across his back and anger in his gait, I knew the fire that haunted him had been reignited and the thunderstorm had finally arrived and was ready to wreak havoc.

I didn't follow him, I knew him well enough to know he needed time, time to brood, time to process whatever had been said and time to take out his frustration on whatever errant walker happened to stumble into his path. That was just his way, and I had learned to let him deal with his anger however he needed to, away from any judgement. I had thought about going to see Beth but had stopped myself when I heard her crying through her bedroom door and decided to fetch Maggie, knowing that her sister would be the only one able to comfort her. I instead kept myself busy preparing food and washing the laundry for everyone whilst I waited and hoped that wherever Daryl had gone to, it would be possible for me to bring him back.

Evening had fallen upon us quickly, and the night carried with it a bitterly cold chill that made me shiver as I stood out on the porch. My eyes frantically scanning the landscape to detect any movement, be it that of a walker or of Daryl, who I had no doubt would be exhausted by now.

At first it had taken my eyes a while to adjust, but then as the stars began to form in the clear skies of Georgia I saw him emerge from the thicket, crossbow over one shoulder and a sling of rabbits over the other. He was bloodied and looked battle worn but made no attempt to come to the house, and instead walked straight to one of the small workshops to the far side of the property. Even from a distance it was clear to see his shoulders were slumped and the fire that had coursed through his stride as he had left this morning, had finally burned away and now, there was just a man who had lost all fight. The pendulum had swung once more and now with nothing but his guilt to battle with, it was inevitable Daryl would try to withdraw, distance himself from everyone and take solace in his shame. I wouldn't allow it this time though, I wouldn't let him fight his battles alone like he had to when he was a little boy, so I plated up the bowl of soup, filled up a bucket of hot water and gathered up some clean rags and set off across the yard to the workshop.

He knew I was there, Daryl was so attuned to his environment and everything around him that there was no chance of me taking him off guard, even if I had wanted to. Yet still he kept his back to me and continued checking his bolts for any damage, not once looking in my direction or making the slightest effort to acknowledge me, as I passed by him and placed the items down on the bench next to him.

"I brought you some warm water for you to wash yourself down, and something for you to eat."

His eyes flicked to me, and I could see the temptation for him to verbally attack hover on his lips. The need inside him to say something that he knew would inevitably cut me so deeply that I would abandon him, warring with his good conscience.

I chose to stop him before he could do the damage he would eventually regret. "Don't Daryl." My voice was firm and contrite, and although I knew it would trigger his disdain, I was determined to stop this train before it derailed.

"Don't what." His tone was challenging and I could tell he wanted me to meet him head on, but I refused. Instead I turned around and went over to the small fire pit already dug out on the floor and placed some kindling on it, before pulling out a book of matches and lighting it.

"Don't say something that you think will send me away from you. Because I am not going to leave here and then you will feel bad and just end up apologising." I blew softly on the small flame watching as the bright red and orange sparks started to dance amongst the shredded wood, before turning to face him "It's not worth the pain to either of us."

His expression was cold and his gravelly tone was unusually bitter. "You don't know me, what are you even doing out here, are you not past this good Samaritan bullshit yet."

I stood up from the fire, choosing to ignore the harsh tenor in his voice.

"Maybe you are right Daryl, maybe I don't know you. But you do know me, and you know I am not going anywhere." I moved past him once again, this time taking the bowl of soup and placing it on the grate over the now burning fire, aware that his eyes had been fixed on me the whole time. "And what I do know Daryl, is that at times when I have decided to shut myself out from the group, it was you that came and brought me back. So I guess we are both a little guilty of that 'good Samaritan' bullshit." I looked over at him from where I was crouched down stirring his soup and let a small smirk play on my lips to let him know his brashness was wasted. "Now go wash up or this soup will be good for nothing."

Daryl was pensive, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him go over to the bucket of water, remove his jacket and vest and start to scrub over his hands, arms and face. Not that it made much of a difference to his appearance but he was able to wash away some of the day's burden at least.

Eventually he came over and sat down next to me in front of the fire, not a word being exchanged between us as I handed him his soup. He tucked into it like a man who hadn't eaten for days, which probably wasn't too far from the truth since he had skipped his breakfast in the kitchen this morning. I allowed him a few moments for his food to settle in his stomach and for his posture relax a little, as he eventually gave in to the warmth of the fire before I spoke.

"You know Daryl, you can't keep running, running from Beth, running from all of us. You are part of a family now, there are people here who care about you, so you don't get to just up and leave anymore."

His eyes never moved from the flames of the fire as he spoke. "I aint runnin from nothing." His words were low over the sound of the crackling wood as it spat blackened cinders onto the ground by our feet. "I just don't know what you people want from me."

"Well maybe we just want you not to be haunted by the things that you had no control over. I know you still feel bad about Sophia, and losing the prison, for Hershel and for Beth, but its not the burden for just one man." I picked up a stick and pushed at the dimly lit embers until small flames began to jump once more. "It's just how this world is now Daryl. Our only mistake so far has been our belief that we have any control over who gets to survive. We are going to lose people, people we love and if we get caught up in what we should have done when all the odds were stacked against us, what we really lose is precious time with those that are still here."

His voice was darker now and held within it a subtle bitterness as he spat his words out. "So what, we just meant to forget? You forget about Sophia?"

My head dropped at even the implication that my heart was not still broken over the loss of my only child. Yet still I didn't offer an answer and instead just allowed Daryl to continue.

"I'm just meant forget that it was me who drove a knife into my brother's head huh? Tell me Carol am I just meant to wipe from my memory the night Beth was taken and everything that happened to her while she was with those fuckin nut jobs out there? Is that what you people want?"

He flipped the now empty soup bowl towards the fire splashing the remnants of the food onto the floor, making me flinch away from him at his sudden movement. My response had been unintentional and just a pre existing habit from my life with Ed, and as soon as Daryl realised what he had done, his eyes spoke of his apology.

I waited for my heartbeat to calm before I spoke again "I don't think anyone wants you to forget Daryl."

I climbed to my knees and began to pick up the bowl when I felt his hand on my wrist and the soft lilt of his voice over my shoulder. "Don't." He took the bowl from my hands and wiped the food with the rag he still had from his wash earlier, leaving me to settle back down. When he joined me again, it was clear to see the tension had gone from his body.

"Daryl I don't think we ever forget, and no I won't ever forget Sophia, but that doesn't mean we can't move on. We have to just accept that fate is no longer in our hands and that the only thing we have left, is to just keep going. Adjust and live or stay trapped and die anyway."

He pulled his knees up to his chest and bowed his head, like a man defeated and right there in that moment I saw a lost boy who didn't know which way to turn to put things right anymore. "Beth wants me to move on, pretend like what happened never did, says what happened to her ain't as bad as the fact I ain't the same with her now."

I had anticipated that, the way he had stayed away from Beth's bedside once she had returned would have been a bitter pill for her to swallow, and although I understood the reasons why he had done it, I could also see why it would have hurt the young girls feelings so deeply.

"Daryl, I don't know what happened with you two after the prison, but what I do know is that young girl would have needed you, and I know that as strong as she thinks she may be now that she is home, doesn't change the fact that she needs you now too. It's your name that she calls out in the night, it was you she asked for when she finally came round and it was your body that she clung to when we left Grady. If you want to put this right, just be there for her. She has already lost enough don't you think? And if I am honest, I am not sure she would survive losing you again."

I reached over and gently rubbed his arm, feeling his cold flesh pebble slightly under my warm touch, before pulling my hand away again so as to not make him feel uncomfortable. His voice was softer now and unsure. "What if I don't know how?"

"Daryl, how will you ever know if you don't ever try? Maybe all you have to do is trust her and the rest will just fall into place."

"Didn't work to good for you and Ed or for my old man and my ol lady did it now, and let's face it we ain't exactly got the basis of a damn fairy tale right here."

He kicked his boot at the fire sending twigs and dust into the embers. The frustrated tone in his voice barely masking the self-doubt that was playing at the surface of his demeanor. Bringing up Ed was like a blow to the heart, but I knew Daryl, and where in the past he would have used words as a means of attack when he was backed into a corner, I knew this time it was something far deeper, a fear that he was somewhat destined to be like the men he had seen all around him.

"Daryl you are nothing like your father and you are nothing like Ed. People like that, they live in fear, fear of never being the men they should have been, fear of being alone, fear of being insignificant. So they abuse everyone around them, belittle and destroy those that love them so as to keep them scared, too scared to ever leave. It's the same as beating an animal and locking it in cage and convincing yourself that the animal chooses to stay. That is who these men are, that is what they do."

I looked to him now, needed him to see the honesty in my eyes as I spoke.

"But that isn't you, you became the man you were destined to be Daryl, don't you see that? Strong, brave, honest and loyal. That is the kind of man you are. And you don't have to break people to keep them by your side. Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, and Michonne, they would follow you to the ends of the earth, because they know only the good in you."

He lifted his head turning to me, his expression held a hint of sadness but his eyes were questioning. "And you?"

I nodded as I looked away, feeling a heat rise in my cheeks under his gaze.

"Yes and me, I would follow you wherever you went, if that was what you wanted." I stared into the fire and watched as the flames flickered and danced around, my voice sincere as I spoke. "Each time we get pulled apart, at the prison when T-dog died, when you left with Merle, when Rick sent me away and even at Terminus, it seems that something always brings us back together." I let a smile trace along my lips as I nudged him playfully with my shoulder. "Seems like it's been written that you and I are in for the long haul Daryl Dixon."

I could see the tension release from his body and his shoulders slacken slightly, as he slowly stretched out his legs and rested back on his hands. A calm silence falling all around us until I heard his voice break through the bright orange glow of the firelight.

"Beth thinks there's something going on between us."

"Me and you." I asked unsure of the implication.

"Mmhhmm"

I sat up, suddenly realising that this had formed part of the conversation he and Beth had had earlier today. And whilst I tried to figure out why such a subject would have been raised in what had seemed to be a heated conversation, my memory tracked back to the events in the kitchen, suddenly seeing Daryl and I through Beth's eyes. My answer was simple. "Oh I see."

His eyes never strayed from the fire as he spoke, his tone giving nothing away. "Do you think everyone thinks that?"

Taken aback by his question, I thought carefully before I answered. "I think those within the group who really knew anything of Ed and Merle, would see that there is an understanding between us. I think Beth likes you, maybe a little more than you realise and that those feelings for you are making her see things that are not there. But I don't think you should be worried about anybody else thinking that."

I began to play with the loose thread on the hem of jacket acutely aware of the strange tightening in my stomach that had arisen from Daryl's question. The thought of him being embarrassed of me in some way made me think momentarily of the times Ed had berated me for not being as pretty or as beautiful as other wives, and in an instant it made all of my insecurities rise to the surface in a rush.

"I mean would it bother you if people thought that?" My voice was calm and I hoped he could not hear the wavering as my confidence slowly began to slip away.

He didn't hesitate in his answer and I was relieved. "Nah, ain't no ones business. Let'em think what they want. We ain't hurting nobody"

I let out the tiny gasp of air I had been holding, and smiled at him, grateful of the fact that I was not something that represented humiliation to him. Feeling a lot lighter, I let a teasing tone lace my words. "You ever think about it, about us?"

He was embarrassed now, my tone had hit the mark and his coyness almost made him seem boyish as he bowed his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Mhmm I dunno."

I let out a little laugh, hoping to let him see that he didn't need to be embarrassed at all. "You don't know if you have thought about it?"

With his long hair still obscuring his face, he turned his head to me, and where there had been lightness to my tone there was no humour to be found in his "Have you? Thought about it?"

I nodded resolutely. "Once or twice. I mean if it's the end of the world and it comes down to us to continue our civilisation, put up against Eugene and that dreadful haircut he seems to love so much, you score pretty high."

I looked at him now and smiled and heard him scoff under his breath as his shoulders relaxed once more. "Yeah I guess competition ain't too stiff in a zombie apocalypse huh."

I felt the cold night air start to creep in through my jacket now and so stood up offering my hand out to Daryl to pull him up.

"Whatever competition there was Daryl Dixon, you would win hands down against any man in my book, and don't you forget it." I smiled at him as he took to his feet and I kicked dirt over the low embers of the fire indicating it was time to head back up to the house. Daryl blew out the lantern and grabbed his crossbow and sling of rabbits and we headed out of the workshop.

The bitter chill told us that any walkers in the vicinity would be slow moving and easy to spot, and as my teeth chattered slightly I linked my arm with his as we started to walk back to the house.

"You know Daryl, Beth would be a good person for you, you both would be good for each other I mean." I nudged him playfully as we walked so as to lighten the impact of my words and so not to embarrass him any further.

His voice was distant and distracted, and his eyes as always were scanning the landscape.

"What you playin Cupid now? Ain't quite the end of civilisation just yet, so no need to be pairing everyone off any time soon. Besides I ain't convinced Eugene has the strength required to keep you outta trouble."

I laughed quietly under my breath tucking in closer to his arm. "You might just be right there Pookie, but then maybe, just maybe he is like Samson and all of his strength is in that hair of his."

The gruff lilt of his laugh carried on the wind as we strode towards the house

"You think so huh, I wouldn't hold out too much hope there Delilah"

As we approached the porch we saw Michonne and Rick on guard, they were covering the night watch and were both wrapped up against the night chill that had now turned icy cold. Rick offered us a curt nod.

"You two good, Daryl you good?"

I gave him a smile to let him know that whatever concerns he had about Daryl today, they were no longer necessary, a fact that was reiterated when I felt Daryl offer a nod beside me. Daryl chose that moment to let his arm fall, releasing mine and instead opting to loosely entwine our fingers, giving my hand a small squeeze. His way of saying 'thank you' to me, for bringing him back to his family. The only family that had ever truly cared for him.

After hanging the rabbits in the makeshift cold store, we walked as we always did in companionable silence through the house, before wearily climbing the stairs to the first floor where the bedrooms were.

Reaching my room first I turned to him and gently cupped his face in my hand, looking deep into his eyes so that he would know each word I spoke was honest and true.

"Daryl Dixon you are a good man and that means whatever is wrong between you and Beth it can, and it will be alright. You just need to let the bad things go. Grady is over, Beth is here now and so are you. Please don't let what precious time you have be taken away by things you couldn't change."

I offered him a small smile as I let my hand fall and turned to go into my room, my heart sinking a little as I heard his footsteps leave my side. It was then I heard his voice, soft and a little above a whisper in the darkness of the hallway.

"I never answered you earlier, you know the question about whether I had ever thought about us?"

I turned back to him now, his steely blue eyes fixed on mine in the moonlight that crept in through the boarded windows, and I saw for the first time no embarrassment, no shyness there, just honesty, just a man who feared nothing but himself, as his low voice gave the answer I had never expected.

"The answer was yes."

And just like that silence fell between us once more, only the sound of his door could be heard as he stepped inside and closed it behind him.

***Authors Note***

**A 'Daryl' chapter is coming up next.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Daryl

***Daryl***

The cold air bit at my battered and bruised skin as I pulled my blood soaked t-shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor. My body ached and my abused muscles felt like elastic bands stretched to their limit over bones of shattered glass. My arms were like lead from wielding my crossbow, and my hands were cut and blistered from plunging my knife into the skull, of each and every walker I had seen from here to the highway and back.

It had been a massacre out there today, a slaughter brought on by my own uncontrollable rage. Beth's words had poured over me like gasoline, the hurt I had seen in her eyes had been the touch paper, and my anger at being the cause of her pain had been the spark needed, to bring about a blaze so damn fierce that had ripped through every part of who I had become, and burned away any good that had existed within me.

The anger that had coursed through my veins had been relentless and the attack had been frenzied, stripping away my adrenaline faster with every walker that fell pray to my knife. For each one I brought to the ground, I felt renewed, doused in a rage more blood thirsty than it had been before, and more vicious and inhumane with every blood curdling thrust of my blade. The devil in me had finally been granted his freedom and he was here to collect, he demanded recompense and the savage in my head knew the only payment he would accept would be violent, and it would be unmerciful.

After talking to Carol and returning to the house, I had sat alone on my bed, taking out my bandana and rubbing away the black tar of the walkers blood, now ingrained into my swollen knuckles. And yet still I had felt no release. There had been no redemption for the words I had spoken to Beth this morning, and no peace to be found for the look of sadness I had seen in her eyes as a reply.

I was exhausted, all of my energy had been depleted and there was nothing left, just the hum of shame that thrummed throughout my destroyed body as I sat and listened to Beth, listened to her as she cried in her sleep on the other side of the bedroom wall.

It weren't a sound I had gotten used to, didn't wanna get used to it neither, and there weren't a single night since she had been back from Grady, that I hadn't wished for that girl to find some peace from whatever nightmare she was trapped in, and tonight would be no different.

I paced around my room as I did every night, flicking the lid on my zippo lighter hoping to distract myself from the sound of her desperate pleas, and to somehow release the tension I felt starting to build in my bones. I needed to escape, escape the guilt I felt for the part I played in her torment, but instead I felt like I always did when it came to her. I felt helpless.

Beth had been wrong today. Dead wrong. All that stuff she had said about her being worth nothin, about her meanin nothin and me abandoning her, she just weren't seein it right. Didn't see the world through proper eyes was all. Even after everything she had been through she saw things as bein simple, still believin that there was good to be found in everyone. Truth was though people like me; we were flawed, damaged goods that ain't worth fixin. We just destroy things, good or bad there aint never no distinction, its just how it always was. She deserved better and I could see that, even if she couldn't.

If the world hadn't have gone to shit, a girl like Beth, would have gone about her life like most good people. She'd have gone to church with her parents on a Sunday, sang them songs she liked so much for people in her poxy congregation. Would have spent her days readin schoolbooks, probably listening to shitty Taylor Swift songs on the radio whilst thinking about college, and what to wear for her school prom. Certainly wouldn't be thinking about no white trash redneck from the wrong side of the river that's for sure. Cus' of course some smart college boy would have come along and gave her nice things and treated her right. Would have given her the life a girl like her deserved.

I weren't never gonna be that man, even if I wanted to be. That just weren't how it was written for me, aint how my life was ever gonna be. And that was why a man like me, didn't deserve a place in her world. Beth would have done better, would have known better. Her father would have made sure of it.

Hershel was a good man, a decent man, who never put no judgment on me, but he was one tough son of a bitch who would have stopped at nothing for his daughters. And we both knew that if times had been back how they shudda been, he would not have hesitated to put a bullet right between my eyes if I stepped foot on his land, or been anywhere near Maggie or Beth, and he would have been right to do so. Good people had needed protecting from me, and from Merle, cus we just weren't like them, weren't nothing decent left in us. No matter how hard we tried.

I weren't about to destroy Beth tho. I had come close before, I had damn near gotten her killed at that funeral home, but I had been given a second chance and I weren't about to mess it up again. And as I stepped out of my room and went to hers, I knew one thing for sure, I may not have been able to protect her from being taken to Grady, I might not be able to protect her from the world as it was now, but I would do everything in my power to protect her from me.

Her room was dark as I stepped inside and the silence was broken only by her whispered cries and the sound of her calling my name. It was a sound that haunted my nights and plagued my mind through the days, because it was the cries of someone I had broken.

I knelt down by her bed and looked at her as she slept, even through the slithers of light that came through the boarded up windows I could see how pale her skin was against the dark circles that seemed to always be present under her eyes. I reached out to touch her, to trace my finger along the deep red scar that marked her face, but pulled my hand back, too afraid that even my lightest of touches would be enough to shatter her or bring her more pain. Instead I just whispered her name, hoped that somehow she would hear my answer to her plea for help; that I would be able to reach her and save her from the hell she was caught in.

"Beth, wake up." My mouth was like the damn desert and the words caught in my throat as she failed to stir, still caught in a battle with the images in her head. "Beth". Finally I gave into my better judgment and moved the damp strands of her hair from her forehead as gently as my rough fingers would allow. "Beth."

Suddenly her eyes flew open, wide pupils of the deepest blue filled with fear met mine, as I watched her struggle to reach through to the reality from whatever nightmare she had just escaped. A desperate sob ripped from her chest as she reached out, wrapping her arms around my neck and clinging to me, crying my name over and over again. "Daryl, please, please don't leave me, don't leave me here."

The tightness in my chest almost stopped my breathing, the cry from this girl breaking down every bit of my resolve as I felt myself pull her down from the bed and cradle her in my lap as I sat on the floor, her frail body clinging to mine as I grabbed the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her.

"Beth, its just a dream, ain't none of it real. I ain't leavin and ain't no one gonna come take you from us again"

Her body trembled against mine as I felt the dampness of her tears soak through the sheet she had balled up into her fists; her voice was broken and splintered with sobs.

"You've already left." There was a small pause as she struggled to catch her breath. "You brought me back from Grady, but you left me."

The words hit their target, driving home the comments Carol had made to me so many times over, that me avoiding Beth, staying away from her for so long had led her to believe I didn't care, and that I had somehow abandoned her after her return to her family.

"I ain't never left you Beth, it weren't like that, stayin away was the right thing for me to do, cus I cant be trusted to look after you. Not no more."

She sat away from me, lifted her head and looked at me, staring into my eyes as if she were searching for something, something that she couldn't find.

"Don't say that, don't let the people at Grady take you from me too, don't do that to me Daryl."

Her tear stained cheeks shone like silver under the sparse light of the moon and her eyes were shining, but they held in them a sadness I had seen all to often when I looked at her.

"I ain't tryin to hurt you Beth, just speakin the truth is all". I struggled to keep my tone even, trying to disguise my desperate need for her to understand, for her to see the truth. "I ain't good for you, you don't know men like me. You think you do, but you just don't."

Her voice was little more than a broken whisper. "I don't need to know other men, I know you."

I looked down, the shame of my words making my confession harder. "You think I am a good man Beth, but you don't know what I am capable of."

I chewed down on the inside of my lower lip, aware of the consequences of the words that followed.

"When we went to the quarry, the first camp site with Glenn, Carol, and T-dog, we only stayed around cus we had planned to rip them all off. Merle and me, we had been watching them for days, even Carl and his mom Lori. We knew they had nothin', knew they were scared for their lives out there. Still, we were take them for what little they had while they slept in their make shift beds. We didn't even care that we were leavin them for dead."

I looked into her eyes; I needed her to know the gravity of what I was saying.

"Randle, that boy Rick brought back to the farm. I damn near beat that boy to death, stuck a knife into his already fucked up leg until he begged for mercy, I never felt no remorse neither. After you got taken to Grady I ran with a group, a bunch of men just like me Beth, that beat one of their own to death right in front of my very eyes, and I didn't even flinch, not once. That same group near enough killed Carl, if it hadn't have been for Rick and what he did out there that day, that boy wouldn't be here today."

I raised my hand and wiped away new tears that had fallen from her eyes.

"That's the kinda man I am Beth. I aint the man you should be wastin no tears on."

She lay her head back on my chest and pulled the sheet around her.

"We do what we have to do to survive Daryl, it don't make us bad people. We don't get to just make easy decisions anymore, but that don't mean we don't feel, that we don't deserve to find peace."

I heard her take in a short breath, the last of her sobs catching in the back of her throat. "At the funeral home, you thought we would be ok, I know you thought there was still hope for us."

She was right, I had thought about it, had started to think that maybe there was some place for me and her, some place where we could just be away from this world. Thought maybe I could just forget my past and pretend like all the bad shit I had done didn't exist no more, like it had never happened and we just got to start over. But it just weren't to be, there was always a price to be paid.

"Beth it was different back then, back then it was just us two left, weren't no one else. Things are different now; you got your family back, people to look after you, people who can protect you, like I couldn't".

I thought back to that night in the funeral home, us sat at that table, her eyes so full of hope despite what she had lost just days before. I remembered how it felt to be with her, her innocence and view of the world still so untainted that just for a moment, it had seemed like we were untouchable.

"When you asked me back then what had changed my mind. It was you. You, who had given me hope. You were like this bright light at the end of a really dark tunnel. But that light ain't something I can have Beth, you have to understand that. I have to pay the price for all the wrongs I have done. That means you will always end up bein hurt if you are anywhere near me and I have to protect you, even if it's from me."

I felt the heat of her tears spill onto my chest, quiet sobs splintering the silence between us as I continued to speak into the darkness of her room.

"When we were kids me and merle used to rob from this old guy. He was just some veteran who used to collect old junk and build shit with it. We reckoned that he used to build tanks in the war or somethin like that and when he retired he just kept building stuff, just never stopped. So me and Merle used to break into his workshop all the time. We'd take things, wheels, jerry cans, fishin rods anything really, just cus we could. The old guy knew it was us but never did nothing to protect his stuff. One day we are there and we hear him comin and of course Merle just runs for it, don't even look back. But I had seen this bike in the corner, it was kinda hidden but I could see it had been fixed up like real nice. So the old man catches me staring at it and says nothing, just stands there, don't even try and stop me as I run past him out the door.

"I never told Merle about the bike, and everytime he spoke about going back to the workshop I would try and distract him, cus I just didn't want him finding this bike. Just seemed to me like it was too nice to ever just be taken. I thought maybe the old man was doin it up for a grandson or some shit like that and it deserved to be a gift. Anyway a week later me and Merle are outside playin when I see the old vet rock up and go into my house, and of course I am sure he is there to tell my old man what me and Merle have been doin up at his workshop. Merle sees him and takes off and I knew it would be days before I saw him again. Merle never could take responsibility for his actions. But me I decided to face my old man, figured it was better to just take my beating sooner rather than later. Turns out the old man had brought the bike, and wanted me to have it. Course my old man is drunk as always, and cusses the man out for given his boys charity, but the man stands there and takes my dads shit, not flinching just nodding at me before he goes, but leaves the bike anyway."

"I had never had my own bike before, I had been on other kids ones but never had my own, never had much of nothing before, but there it was all painted up blue, all shiney and new and shit. And I cant believe its mine. So my old man who is proper riled up now asks me why this man brought me the bike. So I tell him the truth, I was a crappy liar so seemed pointless trying to say anythin different. My dad says cus I've been sneakin in this mans place I aint allowed to ride it. Next day of course the bikes gone, just gone. Turns out my old man had sold it to one of his drinking buddies. Told me it was a life lesson that it don't matter how much you want something, if you do bad shit, you aint never gonna get to keep nothing good. And he was right."

"I saw the bike around, weren't to long before it got robbed off the original kid and stripped down to nothing again, just bits scattered among other peoples junk probably back where it started. Just something else I was never meant to keep."

Beth remained still, but the fluttering of her eyelashes against my chest told me she was yet to fall sleep. The darkness made the silence almost deafening until I spoke again.

"You really wanna know why I stayed away? It weren't cus I thought you were weak Beth, it was because anything good I get close to ends up broke or just gone. Something good like you ain't meant to be near someone like me."

She ran her fingers lightly over the bruises colouring the skin on my chest, her touch soft but it felt like ice dripping over fire. My throat was dry and I felt my breath catch in my throat, stopping any words from forming as she spoke in a whisper.

"Memories are just like bruises Daryl, at the time you know they are real, and they hurt, and you feel like you might not ever heal. Then one day they just fade to nothing, you remember them, but the pain is gone and all you have is a distant recollection of what they were, of what they felt like, but it's not real."

A small hiss left my lips as her fingertips grazed over the raised skin of the scars littering my shoulders and I felt her breath sweep over my skin along with her words "Scars are just the same."

I took her hand and placed it back in her lap, humiliation prickling through my veins at the fact she had seen the marks left behind by the leather and metal of my fathers belt. "Nah scars aren't the same" I shook and lowered my head, the weight of the shame taking its toll. "They are permanent reminders of another life, lessons that ain't meant to be forgotten."

Her voice was low and laced with a raw sincerity that spoke to a place inside of me that seemed never to heal. "There is no other life Daryl, there is no life where I get to go on vacation with my mom and daddy, no summer days in the sunshine or picnics at the beach. There is no other life where your daddy gets to beat on you and take anything and everything good away from you. The only life we have is the one here and now."

She tilted her head, forcing me to look her in the eyes "These bruises we have aren't because we were bad, these scars aren't because we had some debt to pay. They are here because it shows we are just the same. Right now in this moment, there is no difference between you and me, our choices are exactly the same. And this right here." She took my hand and placed it over the material of the nightshirt she wore, placed my hand where her heart was. "This you feel right here, this is life."

I felt her fingertips lightly brush down my arm before she linked her fingers with mine, embarassment running to the surface of my skin as I felt the roughness of my hands against hers, soothed away only by her voice. "And I am not gone Daryl, I am right here. If I were gone you would not feel this." I felt her move closer to me and in the shadow of the night I felt her press her lips to mine.

There was a tremor that thrummed throughout her body; her lips tentative and unsure as her heartbeat begin to race beneath my fingertips. Without question and without hesitation I gave in to her, and for the first time in a long time, as I held her body against mine and swallowed the soft moans that left her in a whisper, I was able to breath again.

**Authors Note **

*** A Beth chapter is coming up next ***


	6. Chapter 6 - Beth

***Beth***

The nightmares were always the same. I was drowning. The dulled sound of my heart pounding in my chest, forcing my blood to race around my veins would fill my ears. Murky water would wrap itself around me like a snake, squeezing every last breath out of my body, filling my lungs until all of my desperate screams were silenced. I would always see him in those moments, just above the surface but always out of reach. He would be unaware of my plight, oblivious to my cries, and to my despair as I fought with all my might against the forces that were trying to drag me down. My screams were of his name, always his name, would be silenced, transformed into distorted cries filling my head, as my panic would descend all around me. Moments would become an eternity, as the demons lurking in the depths would grab at my ankles trying to pull me further into nothingness. That is when he would leave me. Daryl would walk away, slipping from my sight and allowing the darkness to claim me and pull me to a place where I no longer existed.

This morning though, I hadn't drowned. There had been no screams, no panic. There had been no fear. All that had existed was a light, a bright light and deep warmth dancing over my skin as I slowly began to open my eyes to a new day. I stretched my body, my muscles letting go of the dull ache left behind from a night spent on a worn out mattress, allowing the heat from the mid day sun to graze over me, as it tried its hardest to break through the smog of my slumber. My mouth was dry and instinctively I let my fingertips brush over my lips as suddenly flashes of last night raced through my mind.

Daryl Dixon had come into my room; he had saved me from my nightmare and snatched me from the grasp of the darkness that consumed my dreams every night. There had been truths told, confessions made, tentative touches exchanged and there had been a kiss. A long lingering kiss that had seared my lips to his with a desperate want and need. Each whisper of his name had brought about a question, an ache felt so deeply in my heart that only the answer of his touch could it soothe away. My naïve hope was met by his calm certainty and I had held onto it, held on to him as though my whole existence depended on it.

I sat up quickly, scanning the room frantically for some small sign that last night hadn't just been a figment of my imagination; a dream conjured up by my desperate and broken heart. I saw nothing, no trace of Daryl Dixon at all.

Jumping from my bed I was still unsteady on my feet, not yet fully healed from the injuries I sustained at Grady. A fact exasperated by the panic now rushing through my body as my mind tried to make sense of my memories. At first they had seemed so clear, the feel of his skin, the warmth of his body, the sound of his voice, it all still lingered in my mind. But as the moments passed they started to fade away, become blurred and distant as the veil of doubt began to cast its shadow.

Suddenly the pounding in my chest stopped and I stood still, glued to the ground as my eyes caught sight of footprints by my bedroom door. They were his, imprints left behind by his muddy boots. He had been here. Daryl Dixon had kissed me, had carried me to my bed and held me until I fell asleep, and then just as the new day had arrived, he had gone, slipped away from me without a word.

I ran to the window to check the time of day, even through the wooden boards I could see the sun was high in the sky and the heat against the glass pane told me it was already past midday. I had slept away the whole of the morning and not had a single nightmare. The realization that my sleep had not been haunted allowed a large smile to dance across my lips. It had been the first peaceful sleep I had managed to have since I had returned. At last I felt I had been freed from my torment and rescued from my own private hell. Quickly I put on some clean clothes, tied my hair up into a loose ponytail and brushed my teeth with an old toothbrush Maggie had given me, suddenly feeling as though today was the start of a new beginning.

I headed towards the kitchen, but not before checking Daryl's room and finding it empty. My nervousness threatened to take over as I rubbed my hands together, deciding to pull the sleeves of my cardigan down to my fingers to mask the dampness covering my palms, my anxiety at the thought of seeing him making my temperature soar. The house was silent but I could hear the subtle hum of voices coming from outside in the gardens.

The Georgia sun was at its most torturous, scorching hot and draining the air of any moisture. Yet still, despite the humidity everyone was out on the land carrying out essential maintenance, all apart from Michonne who was on the porch. Her eyes were scanning over the landscape, alert to every threat and possible danger. Butterflies danced in my stomach, as I looked across the gardens to the fences, hopeful of catching a glimpse of Daryl. A part of me hoping to silence the niggling doubt that seemed to have been present since I had woken up alone.

"Maggie know you're are outta bed?." Michonne's voice was inquisitive but held lightness to it, as her eyes slid to mine momentarily.

"Um no." I shook my head as I spotted Maggie with Glenn over by one of the fences; they were fastening barbed wire to the posts. "I have just woken up, I haven't managed to see her yet."

My eyes were taking in all of the people outside. Carl, Rick, Sasha, Tara, but still no sign of Daryl, and my pounding heart would not allow me to procrastinate any further.

"Erm, Michonne have you seen Daryl."

I began to fidget nervously with the hem of my sleeve, bringing it to my mouth and chewing on the piece of loose thread that hung there.

Michonne's eyes didn't flinch, but her tone changed, something hidden within her words that I could not quite place.

"He left this morning, said he was going on a run." She hesitated before she turned her gaze to look at me. "He took Carol with him. Said he would be gone for a couple of days."

My heart sank and I could feel my stomach begin to churn as my head began to spin. I struggled to get my words out.

"How…how long ago did he leave?"

"First light, I saw them go as I finished up on watch." Her voice was laced with concern as she stepped towards me. "Are you ok, you look pale all of a sudden."

Michonne had hardly finished her sentence when I felt my knees buckle, my body suddenly becoming lighter than air as I dropped to the ground. Daryl had gone. He had just left and not said a word. My mind spun, my body went limp and as I felt Michonne's arms lift me up from the ground, all I could hear spill from my own lips were the words, "He left me, Daryl left me." Repeated over and over until finally my tears broke free.

It was over an hour before everyone had stopped fussing around me, all of them complaining that I had gotten out of bed too early, or that I wasn't strong enough yet to be moving around. Maggie had bordered on hysterical and Rick had been stern and forthright as always, but all of their words had fallen on deaf ears. They were just faces with muted voices as my mind scrambled back over my conversation with Daryl yesterday, words that in the darkness had carried so much meaning, now in the light of day meant nothing at all.

As I stood up from the chair Michonne had sat me in, I didn't look back to acknowledge anyone. My desperate need to be away from the chatter and noise becoming more and more urgent.

"I am going for a walk."

The only response I heard was that of Michonne, her tone holding no room for negotiation as she spoke to the others and her words allowing no compromise.

"Let her go."

The barn stood directly opposite the workshop in the acre of land surrounding the house. It was a small holding, probably home to what would have been a tiny number of livestock. Although it was little in comparison to my daddy's farm, as I approached the old weathered building it reminded me so much of my home, the place I had grown up and the place I had loved more than any other in the world. It also reminded me of just how much I had lost and how much I missed my momma and daddy. I wanted them so bad right now, knew that they would be able to make everything ok, could make me strong again. I missed the softness of my daddy's voice and how one hug from him made everything bad in the world just melt away. I missed how my momma would make me cookies and lemonade and tell me how everything always fell right after some good home cooking, and of course she was right. I didn't cry for them anymore, I knew that would not bring them back to me, but as I pulled open the old barn door and stepped inside, I had never missed them as much as I did in that moment.

Dust danced lazily in and out of the sunbeams that shone down through the cracks in the old roof. The barn had kept horses in before the world had fallen to the dead, and the tack, horse coats and old farrier tools still hanging from the racks gave life to labour long since gone. A second floor still housed old hay bales and a few sacks of grains that we were using whilst we were here. Other than that the barn was empty, apart from Daryl's motorbike that stood alone in the middle, basking in the daylight.

The closer I stepped towards his motorbike the more my heartbeat started to race, a gamut of emotions taking over me. Anger made room for hurt, sadness was replaced by rejection, and butterflies of uncertainty quickly replaced the flurry of anxiety. I ran my finger over the saddle of the bike picturing him, picturing the last time I had seen him and trying to push aside thoughts of the man who had abandoned me this morning, and bring back to my mind the Daryl I had fallen in love with.

A shudder ran down my spine as I recalled his touch, the feel of his rough fingertips as they had swept like a soft whisper across my nightshirt and over my breast. I remembered how a white heat had rushed through every part of me as I had felt his tongue gently press for entrance against my lips, and how I had felt lightheaded at the taste of him as I gave into to his wish. My pulse had raced as he pulled my body against the hardness of his bare chest, and as my breath had quickened, my need to be closer to him had found me whispering his name into the darkness. There was heat and there was a hunger in his touch as he laced his fingers into the back of my hair and tugged my head back, his tongue trailing down my neck, setting my skin aflame and burning away my innocence with every graze of his lips.

"I think someone has a death wish."

I jumped and quickly covered my mouth to stifle the small scream threatening to leave my body. When I spun round and saw Michonne stood in the doorway of the barn.

"Jesus Christ Michonne, you nearly gave me a heart attack, you shouldn't go sneaking up on people like that." I bent over, leaning on Daryl's bike trying to catch my breath whilst I waited for my heartbeat to slow down.

Her tone of voice was light and carried in it a hint of humour as the sunlight danced in her eyes.

"Well rather a heart attack than an arrow through that head of yours." She was moving inside the barn now and pointed at the motorcycle. "Might have happened if that surly old redneck had seen you touching his bike."

I nodded as I tried to get my breathing back under control, standing to look at her.

"Yes well I guess I don't have to be worryin' to much about that, given that he disappeared off on a run with Carol till goodness knows when." My voice dropped as I tried to hide the emotion that was just about ready to bubble to the surface.

"That's kind of upset you huh?" Her voice held no judgment and her tone indicated it was more of a statement than a question.

I shrugged in response and continued to look at the ground, partly because I felt so foolish, but mostly because I was scared that if I told the truth, if I gave voice to my insecurities, I would not be able to stop.

Michonne moved slowly towards Daryl's bike and stood opposite me, reaching over her shoulder to the handle of her katana.

"You want me to slash his tyres?"

A stuttered laugh left my lips. "No Michonne, I do not." I looked at her, shocked at her question only to see her struggling to stifle a wry smile.

"Well you just say the word and I'll shred those tyres into tiny little hairbands for you."

A mischievous smile crossed Michonne's face and I couldn't help but give her a smile back, grateful to her for her attempts to make me feel better. She turned and walked over to one of the hay bales that lay in the middle of the floor, pulling a rucksack off her back that I had not seen her carrying.

"Have you eaten today?"

I shook my head and watched as she dug around in the bag and brought out an apple and a bottle of water, throwing them both over to me for me to catch. I placed the apple in my cardigan pocket not feeling like eating, but kept the bottle in my hands.

"Thank you Michonne." I began to fidget with the top of the bottle unsure what to say next.

"You need to eat and drink. I don't want you fainting on me again while you tell me what has you so upset with Daryl."

I undid the lid of the bottle and took a swig of water, popping the top back on when I was finished. "I don't want to talk about it." I hesitated for a moment. "I can't."

Michonne took a bite of her own apple that she had also pulled out of her bag and thought for a moment.

"Sure you can and besides Daryl's tyres depend on it."

I knew that she was reaching out to try and help me, to try and maybe understand my situation, but the truth was I didn't truly understand it myself. Daryl's actions had left me totally confused and unsure, and I knew I didn't have the words to articulate any of it, even if I had wanted to.

"I don't think Daryl needs another reason to be mad at me Michonne."

She stopped eating her apple, her voice carrying with it some concern now.

"Daryl's mad at you? Why?"

I shook my head, the words getting stuck in my throat as I saw Michonne stand up and walk back over to me.

"Beth, why would Daryl be mad at you?"

Embarrassment and shame stopped me from looking her in the eye. "I kissed him."

My fingers trembled as I fumbled with the lid of the water bottle. "He heard me having a nightmare last night and he came in and sat with me to make sure I was alright. I don't know why I did it, I wasn't thinking clearly I had just missed him so bad, and so I just kissed him."

My words were coming out in a rush; it was as if they were in a sprint with my tears to get to some imaginary finish line. "He seemed fine with it, I mean he kissed me back, I swear he seemed ok with it. But then this morning I woke up and he was gone. Just gone. Without a word he just up and left with Carol."

Michonne tilted her head to try and make eye contact with me as I bowed mine, determined not to cry again.

Her voice was soft and questioning.

"You think he is mad at you because you kissed him?"

All I could do was nod my head. "Why else would he just leave?" I sniffled and wiped my nose with the cuff of my cardigan.

"Hmmm." I watched as she walked away, her attempt to pretend she had not seen the errant tear splash over my eyelashes onto the floor.

"Did know they say there are three responses to fear?" She nodded at me to further emphasis her point.

"The first is to freeze. So when some people get scared, they just do nothing, they don't respond at all. Just stand there helpless."

Michonne moved over to the two bales of hay and after eyeing them thoroughly began to drag one on top of the other. I rushed over to help her as she continued to talk.

"And we both know that Daryl is not the kind of man to freeze when backed into a corner, that boy is like a caged animal when under threat." I nodded in acknowledgment as I helped her hoist the second bale on top of the first.

I brushed my hands down and I stood back whilst Michonne unsheathed her katana and stood in front of the two hay bales, now stacked on top of each other.

"The second response is fight." With her words she spun around on her feet, the sunlight catching the silver edge of her blade as she suddenly jabbed it with full force into the hay bale.

"I don't think Daryl wants to fight with you Beth."

She deftly removed the sword from the bale and with a flick of the wrist circled it in her hands before pointing its razors edge at me.

"Which is pretty big for Daryl, because lets face it, he wants to fight just about everyone. So I see that as a good thing."

She let a smile cross her lips before she spun around again and this time sliced away a section of the now scattering hay bale.

I scuffed some of the hay that had fallen by my feet, away with my boot.

"So what's the third option?"

"The third option." She paused, looking directly at the hay bale before she spun 180 degrees, turning her back to her straw assailant and flicking her sword under her arm before she rammed it straight into the bale with a deep exhaled breath.

"Flight, that's the third option." She paused for a moment "That is the option that has him going on a run for two days."

I looked at her as she pulled the sword from the bale one last time.

"But Daryl isn't scared of me, he doesn't fear me."

Michonne stopped now and reached behind her sheathing her katana back into its holster.

"No you're right, Daryl doesn't fear you. Not at all, but he does fear what he feels for you. And he does fear losing you again, anyone can see that." She looked me in the eye, her words seeming more sincere than ever. "And who is to say he just isn't afraid of hurting you?"

"But he won't." I started to chew on the hem of my cardigan sleeve again. "I mean he might, of course he might. But that's just part of caring for somebody right?" I looked at Michonne suddenly feeling a little hopeful.

"That's part and parcel of love, that's what my momma used to say all the time. It can't all be rainbows, there has to be a little rain right?"

I could see Michonne studying me, a soft smile touching her lips.

"That there is girl logic, definitely not male logic and definitely not Daryl Dixon logic."

She nodded and then reached over to me taking the apple from my cardigan pocket and holding it up to me. "Eat or there will be nothing left for him to come back to."

Michonne then turned and headed back towards the barn door pushing it open to let the last of the sunlight trickle in. As the evening grew nearer we were always more at risk from walkers and everyone naturally became more alert and Michonnes eyes began scanning the now shadowy landscape. I stood next to her now, eating my apple and looking out over the gardens to everyone who was now starting to pack up their tools and move back towards the house."

"Michonne how do I get him to stop running from me all the time, if he keeps doing that then he is just going to keep hurting me."

I followed Michonnes gaze and saw Maggie looking over, even from the distance I could see the worry on her face, but as soon as Michonne gave her a curt nod, Maggie seemed somewhat appeased and continued up to the farmhouse, only looking back once to see me give her a small smile and a wave"

"You ever tried to tame a wild dog Beth?"

I shook my head as I took the last bite of my apple and looked for somewhere to throw the remains of the core. "No. My dad always raised our dogs from pups. They weren't ever wild."

"I did once" Her voice was low, her eyes still not deviating from the forest beyond the house boundary. "When I was a kid, there was this dog that used to come out from the woodlands at the back of our house. And although it was scruffy and seemed a bit smelly, I kinda grew fond of it."

A hint of a smile traced across her lips at the memory "So I got my parents to go and get it a bowl and a new bed and a lead and all the things you get for a pet. Course the dog would come to the house, but would only ever eat the food from the yard and then would scoot back off again. And as a kid I never understood why."

I looked at her now, a slight chuckle in my voice "Michonne, are you calling Daryl Dixon a wild dog."

She laughed, her smile so electric it lit up the whole of her face. "I have called that man a lot worse at times but no, I am not calling him a wild dog. What I am saying to you is you can't change the nature of some things. Daryl isn't like you Beth, he wasn't brought up with a lot of love around him. So he just doesn't get it like you do."

I nodded thinking back to Daryl's stories of his childhood and knowing that she was right.

"But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve love, or that he cant ever experience it, everyone deserves love Michonne."

She looked at me and her eyes seemed to show a hint of sadness I had not seen before. "You are right, but for some people it's just easier than it is for others. Some of us have just been without it for so long that we forget just what it feels like." She stopped herself, as if she had caught herself saying something she shouldn't have and her tone changed, hardened a little. "I could have loved that dog with all of my might but it would never be a pet, not in the conventional sense anyway. It would always have that wildness in it." Her smile was back now as she continued to speak. "Which is probably why I liked it so much in the first place."

She turned and started closing the barn doors, then stopped and looked me in the eye. "In the same way if Daryl is the person you want, its not going to be like it is for Maggie and Glenn or maybe even for your parents. You have to be prepared for that, you are going to have to be strong, because its is going to be a battle."

I took on the gravity of her words and let my final insecurity find its voice. "What if its Carol he is falling in love with?"

Michonne put her arm around my shoulders and reassuringly rubbed my arm as we slowly walked back to the house. "If it is, then there is nothing you can do, you have to just give them time to resolve it, work it out for themselves. If its meant to be you will have to just accept it. Be strong and be happy for them both. Sometimes it's the sacrifice we have to make for people we love."

As we reached the porch now abandoned by everyone who was inside washing up and getting ready for dinner, I felt my voice break. "I don't think I could lose him again"

Michonne turned to me, her big brown eyes holding nothing in them but sincerity "You will never lose Daryl Dixon, as long as there is breath in that mans body he will always protect you and he will always be the best man he can be for you. Daryl will always fight for what he believes in. All you have to do Miss Greene, is let him know what he is fighting for"

An hour later when I sat down for dinner with Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Michonne and Carl, I felt lighter, I enjoyed the laughter and was finally able to relish being reunited with my family, my new family. I felt less wounded by the events of the last few days and a little less unsure.

I still jumped every time someone came through the door, half hoping it was him and half scared all at the same time but I felt more able to face the uncertainty.

To end the night Rick had been kind enough to let me put Judith to bed. It had been a routine that I had long since missed but had never forgotten. It reminded me of better, happier times. A time when I had my dad to talk to, and I felt less tainted by the world. Just staring at Judith's perfect face, looking into her eyes still so full of innocence, allowed me to feel some normality again, something that had been lacking since the prison had fell. It brought to me a sense of calm that allowed me to see that unconditional love was never easy. It involved sacrifice, it involved hurt, the possibility of loss and sometimes it even required a fight. In that moment as I watched that baby sleep, protected from the horrors of the world, I realized that some things are always going to be worth fighting for. And that if there was even the smallest chance that Daryl and I could be together, I would fight for it. I would be strong and I would be patient.

I put my nightshirt on and looked at my bed, the memories flooding back of Daryl being there, lying next to me sent trickles of electricity through my body, making my skin raise in goosebumps. I knew that tonight I could not sleep in this bed, that the absence of him would be too painful. So slowly I tiptoed into his room, closing the door behind me and climbing into his bed.

The sheets were cold, much colder than mine to the point where they felt damp, just a reminder of how long it had been since he had slept here, but still I felt closer to him and that was all I needed. I wrapped his poncho around me the smell of leather, motorbike oil and him made my mind ease. I had finally found my peace in the darkness. As I slipped into a slumber my mind floated back to the words I had heard him whisper last night.

"Beth, I promise I aint ever leavin you again."

The words of a man I knew would one day find a way to be with me, if his heart believed I was worth the fight. All I had to do was convince him I was the one worth fighting for.

**Authors Note: **

***A Carol chapter is coming up next * **


	7. Chapter 7 - Carol

***Carol***

"So are you actually going to tell me why we have been on the road all day?"

The evening sun had slowly disappeared into the blackened sky plunging us into an uncertain darkness, as I balanced precariously on some old shelving in a run down supermarket. It was the fourth store we had looted on our round trip from Knoxville, each one becoming more and more perilous the later and darker it had become. Daryl was on lookout just in front of me, his finger poised on the trigger of his crossbow as he scanned the aisles up ahead for walkers.

"You got cotton in them ears of yours? I already done told you. We needed supplies for the baby."

I grabbed at the largest box on the shelf allowing my eyes to adjust to the fading light, and found it to be just like all of the others, empty apart from a thick layer of dust.

"Yes you did say that before, but I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now."

The sarcasm was clear in my voice as I pressed the toe of my boot into the next shelf along, pulling myself across before routing through the remaining stack of boxes.

"If you wanted to get me alone Daryl you didn't have to put on this whole ruse. You could have just taken me for a nice candle lit dinner for two. I would have even let you choose the restaurant."

I could hear the subtle shift in his gait behind me as he merely scoffed at my words, and continued to pace along the aisles in between the low shelving units.

It wasn't that I liked making Daryl feel uncomfortable or embarrassed; it was more that I needed something to lighten the mood. Daryl had been deathly quiet all day. He had seemed troubled and lost in his own thoughts, hardly speaking a word, unless it was to grunt out instructions or comment on the ever growing number of walkers we had encountered.

It had been a stark contrast from when he had pounded on my door this morning; it had been so early that the sun hadn't even risen in the Georgia sky, yet his eagerness to go out on a run was bordering on desperate. It was as if someone had lit a fire under his bed and he couldn't escape the growing flames quick enough. Making it clear to me from his demeanor, that being away from the house today was less to do with what we needed out here, and a lot more to do with something he was avoiding back there.

"So if it wasn't to romance me, then why are we still out here? And don't you dare say for supplies again, because I spoke to Rick yesterday and he said that Glenn and Abraham got a good haul when they went out only two days ago."

Daryl remained silent just as he had done for most of the day, his eyes fixed on the aisle ahead as I pulled at the last remaining box and saw it too was empty.

Letting out a sigh I tried to stretch a little, as the ache in my arm started to take its toll.

"A hand please."

I leant down as Daryl reached up and grabbed my hand helping me jump down from the shelf.

"You know Daryl, we are going to have to go back there sooner or later. It's getting really late, and the light is almost gone outside."

Pushing past him I walked over to the set of storage cupboards, pulling one open and finding nothing but empty containers. I saw him quickly raise his crossbow again, looking through the sight as we both caught a glimpse of a walker shuffling past the front doors of the store, only to lower it again once he was sure the walker had gone straight past. His voice was low and his gravelly tone gave an indication of his exhaustion as he spoke.

"Yeah, I reckon we can hold up in the van overnight and then check out the two stores in Macon tomorrow before we head back."

I turned from the cupboard to look him straight in the eye, my own tiredness and frustration rising to the surface.

"Daryl are you going to tell me what is going on? You have been avoiding going back to the house all day, and now we are 10 minutes away and you want to risk staying out here in walker territory, just so you don't have to return there. What exactly have you done?"

He bristled at my words but his demeanor was more of annoyance than of real anger.

"Aint done nothing" He paused for a moment before flicking his hand in my direction. "An I don't care, I'll take you back and I will go stake the places out myself. Don't make no difference to me, might be nice to get some peace and quiet."

Ignoring the tenor and harshness of his comment I turned back to the second cupboard, pulling it open to find yet another one stripped of any goods.

"Suit yourself Daryl, but just know that whatever it is I am going to find out as soon as I get back to the house anyway. All I am doing is giving you a chance to have your say."

Daryl's voice was laced with sarcasm and held bitterness to it as he spoke.

"Well now, aint you just a peach."

His eyes slid to me and then back to the sight on top of his crossbow, his finger squeezing down on the trigger releasing a bolt, straight into the head of walker who had suddenly fallen in through one of the front windows.

I continued to stare at him; a wordless challenge for him to continue with his statement was yet again met with a stony silence. Finally I turned away from him and moved to the last cupboard throwing open the doors in frustration, when I was halted by the sound of his voice. The curt undertone that had been woven into his words all day seemed to have disappeared, replaced now by a lull of resignation.

"I kissed Beth."

My hands stilled on the cupboard door and I turned around to look at him, I noticed that he was chewing on the nail of his thumb. A habit he had whenever he was feeling nervous or uncertain of himself.

"Oh" I tried to keep the tremble out of my voice as I felt the breath taken from my lungs. "When?"

He seemed hesitant, swallowing hard as his eyes caught mine through the strands of his hair that fell in front of them.

"Last night."

"I see." Were the only words I could muster, the only thing I could say without giving away the fact, that for some reason, unbeknown even to me I felt a little hurt and confused by his confession.

Daryl seemed to detect my unease and instantly began chewing on the inside of his lip, his fingers now running over one of the bolts yet to be loaded into his crossbow.

"She was having those bad dreams she keeps havin, you know the ones where she screams." He nodded almost to himself. "And I went to go see if she was ok"

I tried to keep the accusation out of my tone, but even without my intent it was there sewn through the fibre of my words.

"Did you intend on kissing her when you went in there?"

He shook his head, guilt set in his eyes as he shrugged his shoulders.

"It weren't like that, she was just upset and it kind'a happened, it weren't no big deal."

My hands trembled as I finally turned back to close over the cupboard door, unable to look Daryl in his eyes, for fear that I might give away a sense of how I was feeling. Especially since I felt so unsure of the emotions that seemed to be flooding through me.

"And you just high tailed it out of there this morning? Did you even bother to tell her you were leaving?"

"I aint left, I came out to get supplies." The guilt had gone from his voice now and his lilt was back to being curt and dismissive, a glimmer of his bad mood from this morning returning once more.

"Don't play cute with me Daryl Dixon you know what I mean. You just snuck out of there this morning?"

There was a shift in his demeanor, he was clearly annoyed as he swung his crossbow up over his shoulder and turned to walk away from me.

"Like I said it was no big deal. Beth will be fine, it was just a kiss, it aint like some damn romance novel."

A surge of anger ran through me. I couldn't place whether it was for Beth, knowing how she would have felt at being abandoned by Daryl again, or if there was a part of me that felt hurt and betrayed following his words from last night. I grabbed his shoulder, pulling him around to face me.

"You shouldn't do that Daryl, you shouldn't let a girl to think that you like her and then just pull away like that, it's hurtful and its insensitive. Don't you think she has been through enough already without you playing around with her emotions like that. She's not just some toy you can pick up and discard whenever you want."

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes squinting as he stared at me making me feel uncomfortable under their scrutiny. There was nothing but anger in his words now, and the air between us almost burned with the tension.

"Like I said, Beth will be fine."

"You don't know that, you don't know the first thing about how she feels."

He closed the gap between us, his eyes piercing through me.

"Who the hell are we talking about here? Is this about me and Beth, cus it damn sure don't sound like it to me?"

I stuck my chin out in defiance, refusing to give any indication that it was indeed my feelings that had somehow been wounded.

"Of course its about Beth, who else would it be about?"

Daryl held my stare, his eyes seemingly searching for something and when he came up with nothing neither his tone nor gaze softened, still determined in their purpose.

"You tell me? last night you seemed like this was what you wanted, then today you are acting like I gone killed someone's kitten. It was just a kiss, it aint settin up house and havin kids."

He was right of course, last night as we had walked back to the house I had said the words myself, had impressed upon him that he and Beth would be good together. There was to be no doubt, I had pretty much encouraged it, but that was before he had said that he had thought about us. That was before he had told me that even for an instant he had considered 'me and him'. And it was before I had spent a fitful night tossing and turning in my bed, trying to establish whether my feelings for him were just that of friendship or whether there was more between us. But now stood in front of him, hearing the words that he had kissed Beth, had left me feeling crushed and it made my words bite out with a harshness I had not intended.

"Really, it means so little to you? Is that is why you are refusing to go back to the house and why you are running the gauntlet with all these walkers? My god Daryl, I never had you pegged for a coward."

I turned to walk away, hoping to disguise the sudden sense of sadness that had washed over me, as I felt him grab my wrist and spin me around meeting me eye to eye.

"I aint no coward, it just aint that simple."

There was a crack in my voice but I refused to let my sadness make its claim and so I remained firm in my stance.

"Well maybe, just maybe Daryl if you didn't go around telling other people that you think about them that way, making out like you care for them too, it wouldn't be so complicated."

The words were out before I could stop them, freed from their tethers and out there hanging there between us and filling the air with a dark uncertainty. His eyes were set alight with recognition, ablaze with the realization of what I was saying, the impact of his own words, spoken in the darkness and then so easily forgotten. He said nothing; his eyes fixed on mine seemed to be searching for something and the longer he remained silent the more I felt humiliation creep through my bones, until finally I yanked myself free from his grip.

It was a split second, nothing more. Just one second of silence before my breath suddenly caught in my throat and I watched in slow motion as my elbow inadvertently knocked against one of freestanding storage units. It was as though time had stood still, but everything else continued to move around us as the unit rocked back noisily on its plinth, before tilting over and slowly landing face down with an earth shattering clash of metal on concrete.

The moments that followed seemed to last a lifetime as I stood still, glued to the spot and scared of attracting anymore attention. The steel frame of the shelves echoed its chime through the empty store, filling each corner of the room with a vibration that could be felt through every inch of my body. Within seconds of the unit hitting the tiled floor Daryl had his crossbow raised, my heart was thundering in my chest in answer to the adrenaline suddenly coursing through my body. My senses were heightened, my breaths were shallow and the pulse could be seen thrumming beneath the surface of my skin as the blood rushed through my veins. I grabbed my knife, my body primed and ready to attack, ready to defend and ready to protect myself against the dead, who by now had been alerted to our presence.

Daryl's eyes flicked to mine and we both instantly dropped to the ground, crouching behind the now fallen shelves. Scanning the room I became angry with myself for not paying enough attention to the layout of the floor, it was unlike me to be so remiss, but I had been so tired when we had arrived that I hadn't been as vigilant as I had needed to be. I knew there had been one entrance to the front but I could clearly see the number of walkers gathering there, slowly pushing against the glass doors that were straining against the impact. The clattering of the chain hanging loosely on the push bar of the fire exit, told me that any escape from the rear of the building had too been compromised, leaving us trapped and facing certain death.

Daryl whistled, snapping me out of my panicked thoughts and nodded his head over to a door on the far left of the room. He had scoped it out when we had first arrived, but had found nothing other than a tiny staircase full of furniture that led to a first floor. The furniture had been piled so high that initially it had seemed a fruitless task to even attempt to reach the room that was at the top of the stairs, but now with the odds stacked so heavily against us it seemed like our only lifeline, our only chance of survival.

The doors to the front of the store suddenly gave way to the walkers, crashing to the ground and scattering shards of glass far and wide, tearing through the skin and limbs of the deceased that had begun crawling and clambering in our direction. I nodded my head at Daryl in acknowledgment and as soon as I saw him get a foothold to move behind me, I ran as quickly as I could across the shop floor. I ran and I didn't stop, didn't stop until I was climbing over the furniture of the stairwell and heard Daryl slam the door shut behind us.

It was pitch black, the kind of darkness that engulfs you and makes you feel as though you are on balancing on the edge of nothingness. I fumbled for my torch and flicked it on to see Daryl pushing the furniture back against the door downstairs, the door that was already rattling with the sound of walkers groans as their rotted bodies pushed up against it. I held the torch up above my head, my eyes scanning the door above for a handle, but there was nothing, only a lock that could only be undone from the inside. I could feel the panic rising again, as I saw Daryl scaling the furniture; suddenly his body was pushed up against mine leaving me no room to move. His breaths were deep and labored as he fought to get a foothold on the two steps shared between us. His hard body felt solid against mine as he placed his arms either side of my head in an attempt to keep his balance. His voice was raw as it cut through the darkness.

"You hurt?"

I shook my head, overwhelmed by the feel of his body so close to mine. Oblivious to my reaction he lent down trying to assess the weak spots in the door. This time when he spoke his voice held less urgency but seemed ever more determined.

"Can you reach your knife?"

I continued to hold the torch up above my head with my free hand and tried to move my other arm but it was wedged tightly against the door.

"No I cant, it's stuck."

I tried to twist my body but it was to no avail, any further movement would have knocked Daryl down the stairs and into certain injury. He pressed himself harder against me, adjusting his crossbow, leaning it on the step below us before he maneuvered himself at an angle to the door. I continued to hold the torch up above our head as his rough fingers inadvertently brushed along the skin of my exposed stomach sending a shiver through my body. I felt his hand run slowly and carefully down along my thigh to my holster unsheathing my knife in one swift movement, electricity passing between us as he placed it in my hand. He was pressed hard and firm up against me now as he moved his leg between my thighs making me catch my breath. Suddenly his eyes caught mine and his hand stilled, I saw a fire blaze in the deep blue of his eyes, a heat and dark intensity I had never seen in him before and it made my breath stutter. His lips were within touching distance of mine and the air between us burned with anticipation as I felt nervous tension course through my body.

A loud bang resonated on the door next to us, snapping us out of the moment, bringing us back to reality, the new reality that there were also walkers on the other side of the door we were about to try and break down. Our eyes met once more, the deep dark blue of his irises had turned a steely cold, the fire of our moment completely and utterly extinguished.

He tried to position his shoulder against the door, checking his footing first by looking down the stairs, and assessing his chances of surviving a fall without injury.

"You got this." My words were to reassure me as much as they were for him; fear having wrapped itself around me, choking me with the anticipation of what could be waiting on the other side.

The first push against the door went unanswered, it did not move and only the sound of the walkers groan on the other side let us know there had been any impact at all. The second push saw the lock buckle, it was slight, but it was a hint of weakness that restored Daryl's vigor as he repositioned his feet and braced himself for the impact. The third and final push saw the door fly open, the momentum leaving me fallen at the feet of a walker, one that instantly found Daryl's knife embedded in its skull.

There were two others inside the tiny apartment, members of a small family it seemed. They had died protecting their store or at least waiting it out until the danger had passed. It hadn't of course, and they had perished after barricading themselves in and their food and water had run out. Our knives saw each of them have a quick ending before we placed their bodies on the staircase, in hope that their smell would somehow cover our scent from the walkers who were steadily making progress against the door downstairs.

I immediately checked the large windows to the side of the room and found one of them had a small ledge and ladder down to the ground. The ladder itself was old and rusty but it was in working order from what I could see in the limited light. The only problem was that it had become stuck on some of the stores damaged signage, making it impossible to get down in the dark, leaving us no choice but to sit it out until daylight returned.

Daryl was silent as he began to push what little furniture remained in the apartment against the door. There was no way that the walkers could ever make it over the barricade and up the stairs, but one thing we had learned along the way, was that you could never be too careful. And so anything of any substantial weight was dragged and placed behind the now buckled door and frame.

I sat in the window looking out into the street, looking down on our van, wishing deep down that I was a million miles away, away from here, away from Daryl who seemed to be sending my heart and mind into an absolute free fall. Today had been exhausting and I was in desperate need of some rest not just physically, but emotionally. I needed to find some peace from the thoughts and feelings that seemed to be whirling around inside of me like a tornado.

Daryl seemed to detect my yearning and dragged a sleeper sofa from the back of the room and pulled it over to the face the door, lifting the seat and letting the mattress and frame spring out. It was dusty, but reasonable given the alternative of the filthy floor and so he fixed the cushions in place before he dropped down heavily on the end of the bed.

He took his bandana out of his back pocket he began to wipe his knuckles that I saw for the first time appeared to be bleeding heavily. Rushing over to his side, I saw the extent of the damage.

"My god are you ok?"

He didn't look up just kept wiping away the remnants of blood as I watched the deep red stain slowly soak through the dirt laden cloth.

"Yeah just old wounds."

My eyes remained fixed on his hands, as I noticed the painful swelling of his already battered knuckles. There was a short silence before he spoke, his voice holding no anger and no malice.

"You wanna tell me what just went on down there?"

Taking the bandana from his hand I slowly began to wrap it around the underside of his hand and up around his knuckles, creating a bandage, my only way of avoiding looking into his eyes.

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure how or what I am feeling right now."

I pulled the bandana a little tighter around his hand, a means of trying to stop the blood. A hiss falling from Daryl's lips as he bit through the sting of his shredded skin against the rough material.

"mmhmm, you seemed pretty damn sure of a thing or two down there."

I tied a knot in the bandana and watched as Daryl stretched his fingers out making sure it wasn't to tight, before I looked up and gave him a small smile. I shuffled to the top of the bed, pulling my knees up to my chest and looking out of the window to the moon that was now shining brightly into the room.

"You know I still remember so clearly the day you left us. You know when Merle came back. I remember it as if it was yesterday, how it felt when Rick said you had decided to leave."

I paused for a moment, my mind playing over the memory of being stood outside the prison and crying for him.

"I remember feeling bereft, like somehow this world, my world didn't seem right without you in it."

Daryl rested his elbows on his knees and looked at the floor for a minute before he spoke again, a hint of guilt danced around his words.

"I came back didn't I?"

I remained looking out of the window into the night, but gave a small nod in acknowledgment.

"Yes you did, but we didn't know whether you would. No one really dared to hope back then. I mean the whole group felt the loss of you no longer being there. Rick felt like he had lost a brother and Hershel, well he was always hit hard by any loss. That was just the man he was. But Beth and I it was like we felt your absence more than everyone else."

I let out a sigh recalling the sadness of those days, the grief I had felt at the possibility of him never returning.

"Beth and I spoke about it, about you. It hit us both so hard but it was in such different ways. She was angry, it hurt her that you would go like that; she didn't really understand how you could just leave. She felt that without you we were all weaker, and it was true. It is true."

I could feel him looking at me over his shoulder, but still I didn't make eye contact, scared that it might take away the small amount of courage I had.

"Ya'll did fine without me."

I nodded, "Yeah we would have survived, barely. But it wasn't about that. The truth is the group was weaker without you, but more importantly Beth is weaker without you, because she sees you being together as something that makes her stronger. I felt your loss too, but I wasn't angry, I wasn't hurt, I was just sad, it felt like I was mourning you. But I understood it more than Beth, I guess the truth is I was more resigned to losing you. I think in the back of my mind I always feel like I am going lose you, whether it be to this world or to another choice you make."

From the corner of my eye I saw Daryl flex his fingers and ball them back up into a fist. He looked up ahead of him into the empty space of the room; there was anticipation in his posture, as though he was bracing himself for a truth he wasn't yet ready to hear.

"You think your gonna lose me to Beth?"

There was a silence as I struggled to find the right words to say. I felt stupid, I knew I had no claim on this man, but I also knew that this wasn't some schoolgirl crush either. My feelings for him went beyond anything I had ever felt for Ed or for anyone in my life other than my daughter, It was as though he had somehow become woven into the fibre of who I was in this world, and my fear of losing him filled me with a sadness I couldn't ever explain.

"You aint never gonna lose me Carol, it aint gonna ever be like that, you said it yourself no matter what happens we always end up together."

I let a small smile pass on my lips, it was all I could do to acknowledge his words even if I didn't believe them.

"Some things are inevitable Daryl, but I don't want you to think I don't want you to be with Beth, because I do, I want you to be happy. I can see it; I can see you being you with her. I know that is how things are meant to be."

It was his turn to stand up now and he walked over to the window looking out for a moment letting silence fall around us. He turned around pressing his back to the wall, his legs crossed in front of him and his arms folded over his chest. He was guarded but I could see him chewing on the inside of his lip, which told me he was unsure as he spoke through the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

"I meant what I said last night."

He nodded as he continued to chew on the inside of his lip, his voice low and sincere in the darkness.

"You know, bout us." His eyes captured mine and refused to let me look away. "About me and you." He let his finger wave between the two of us.

"Thought about it at all the time at prison, used to run it over and over in my mind, how it would all play out. In the prison…"

He tilted his head, gesturing out of the window.

"And out there. I saw it. Saw us."

He hesitated and went back to chewing on the inside of his lip.

"I just thought if I waited, just waited till things got right, that the proper time would come, it would just happen, you know?"

I held his gaze as I tried to mask the sadness in my voice.

"But it just never did, did it?"

He shrugged before he raised his thumb to bite on his nail.

"Or maybe it did and we just missed it."

I shook back a tear that was ready to fall over my cheek as he came and sat next to me on the bed; his feet planted firmly on the floor while he rested his elbows on his knees and ran his hands roughly over his face.

"Then after the prison, me and Beth"

He paused now, taking a deep breath before recalling memories I could see from his expression held great pain.

"Something changed, she changed me somehow, I aint even sure how or when it happened. It just did. I admired her naïve, hopeful way. I was so sick of running back then and just so fuckin angry. Losing Hershal, Merle."

He turned and looked at me for a moment, his eyes were suddenly the softest blue could be seen in the slithers of moonlight.

"Losing you. Thinking you were out there somewhere, alone and that I weren't never gonna see you again, I thought it was gonna destroy me."

I gently ran my hand down his arm a touch of reassurance and thanks for his candor.

"She brought me back to a place where I started to think our days weren't done yet, even after she was gone, taken away. I was still left with her hope that I would find ya'll somehow. Find you, and somehow make everything all right."

He looked up again and stared out of the window as my words came out in a stutter, held back by a sob that I wouldn't allow to go free.

"She makes you stronger. Doesn't she?"

He looked at me and shrugged.

"In someways, in someways she makes me weaker, like I don't know what she thinks of me, makes me feel like I don't know what I am doin."

I tried to put lightness in my tone.

"Well I can always draw you a diagram or arrange for Rick to give you and Carl 'The Chat' at the same time."

He scoffed now and it was a sound that made my heart lift. I felt him move and I shifted over on the sleeper to allow him to lie down, watching him settle and bring his hand behind his head before I lay down next to him. Both of us just lay there, staring at the ceiling letting the gravity of our words engulf us, with only the distant groans and bangs of the walkers outside and downstairs breaking through the silence.

"Why did you keep going back to him?"

There was a pause while I let his words sink in before I heard him speak again.

"Back to Ed when he kept beatin on you and doin you wrong like he did?"

There was no accusation or judgment in his voice, but still the question stung, hurt my heart as it made me reach down into the part of me that I hated the most. The part of me that had tossed away my own self worth and put my own life and that of my daughter at risk. I tried to keep my voice steady as I spoke.

"I guess I was scared, not scared of the beatings, after a while your body becomes immune to the pain you know."

I looked over at him in the moonlight knowing he would understand the sentiment more than most, I saw him nod slightly but he remained silent all the same.

"Just scared of being alone, being without someone to protect me, even though now I see at the time he was the biggest threat. Back then I thought I would never be able to look after myself without him being by my side. But mostly I just thought that if I was a good mother to his child, a perfect wife to him, he would somehow just become a better man. Just wake up and see I was worth being good for."

Daryl didn't move, his eyes stayed fixed to the ceiling, the only change was the tenor of his breathing revealing a subtle anger that laced its way through his words.

"Me and Beth don't change a thing, as long as there is breath in my lungs ain't no man on this earth ever gonna raise his hand to you again, you hear me. And you aint never gonna be sent away again neither not by Rick, not by no one, wherever you go I go. Them things Ed did to you, them times you felt scared or on your own that aint your path no more. Your path is with me, no matter who else is there with us. Me and Beth wont never change that."

I reached for his hand that lay between us and entwined my fingers with his, a gesture he had extended to me last night as we had walked back into the house. A gesture between friends who knew words alone did not carry the gravity of what needed to be said. A single tear tickled down my cheek as I whispered into the night the only words I could find.

"Thank you"

And as I felt him squeeze my fingers gently in acknowledgement I heard the words that let my tears fall freely for the first time in a long time.

"I do it cus you make me a better man."

I cried as I felt his arms wrap around me, I cried for my life with Ed, cried for the loss of Sophia and cried for the fear I had felt when Rick had sent me a way. And I cried because for the first time I felt safe. I closed my eyes and let myself fall, fall without fear because I knew from this day forward, no matter what happened, no matter who or what came between us in this world I was no longer alone. Daryl Dixon would always stand by my side, and I would stand by his.

***Authors Note***

A Daryl chapter is coming up next.

**Teaser :**

**1.****What will a new day bring for Daryl and Carol**

**2.****Its time for Daryl to face Beth**


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